Iron Man 2 Enjoyable, If 'Just Another Sequel'

"I am Iron Man." With these words, billionaire industrialist and smooth
operator Tony Stark--played by equally smooth Robert Downey Jr.--revealed himself as the man beneath the high-tech suit of armor in 2008's comic book romp "Iron
Man." The film grossed $318 million in the U.S. and nearly $570 million
worldwide, establishing it as one of the most successful comic book
adaptations to date and stirring immediate speculation as to whether its
sequel could replicate its
stylistic and financial success.

This weekend, critics, fanboys, and
regular moviegoers were treated to Jon Favreau's sequel, replete with a
star-studded cast that includes Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth
Paltrow, and Mickey Rourke as the tech-enhanced Whiplash. With
expectations running high for this much-anticipated follow-up, critics enjoyed the spectacle while acknowledging the truth about Iron Man 2: beneath its enjoyably slick armor
of special effects and star casting, the film is a typical sequel, with all the flaws that accompany a box-office hit's second
iteration.

'You Want A Sequel, You Got A Sequel' writes Roger
Ebert, praising Robert Downey Jr's performance as Tony Stark as a
stand-out in the "polished, high-ozone" comic book romp. Iron Man 2 is
"not as good as the original but building once again on a quirky
performance by Robert Downey Jr," notes Ebert. "The superhero genre
doesn't necessarily require good acting, but when it's there (as in "Iron
Man" and "The
Dark Knight"), that takes it up a level." The action-packed
sequences of the film make Ebert's suspension of disbelief difficult to
maintain. "Sure, the suits are armored, but their bodies aren't. How
many dizzying falls and brutal blows and sneaky explosions can you
survive without breaking every bone in your body? Just asking'. At the
end of a long day, those suits should be filled with bloody pulp."

Just a Sequel, But Like No Other The New York Times' A.O.
Scott praises director Jon Favreau for taking Iron Man 2 down a different path from past comic-book movie sequels. Usually, filmmakers and
actors "use the reasonable certainty of financial success to take
chances and explore odd corners of their archetypal, juvenile stories,"
writes Scott, and while Iron Man 2 fails to compare to "the emotional
complexity of 'Spider-Man
2' or the operatic grandeur of 'The
Dark Knight,'... it does try something a little bit new and
perhaps, given the solemnity that has overtaken so much comic-book-based
filmed entertainment, a little bit risky. It's funny." This self-aware,
tongue-in-cheek approach to the comic book sequel gives Iron Man 2 an
attractive appeal. "There
are, I suppose, viewers who will regard the comic filigree of 'Iron Man
2'...as diverting or distracting filler deposited between action
sequences and plot revelations," concedes Scott. "I take the opposite
view. A bunch of guys in metal suits slugging it out in a park in
Queens? I can probably find that on pay-per-view or even YouTube."

Stark Better Without the Suit The Atlantic's Christopher
Orr says that Iron Man 2 is a "perfectly diverting action film,
but it's a reminder that Downey is at his best when given, as he was to
a substantial degree last time out, a one-man show." While Orr finds
himself initially enraptured by the film's early stages, he eventually
becomes overwhelmed by "the excesses that typically adhere to the genre:
too many characters, too many storylines, too much CGI." "For the most
part, director Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux keep the story
moving forward, and they have the common decency (far too uncommon these
days) to have the credits rolling by the two-hour mark. (This is not,
praise God, another Transformers.)," says Orr. He hopes that in the sequel, the director will give more of what makes the franchise special: "billionaire daredevil Tony Stark, armed with nothing more than
his wicked goatee, dagger-sharp irony, and impenetrable aura of
self-love."

'Acceptable, Nothing More' writes Kenneth
Turan at the L.A. Times. "With star Robert Downey Jr. and director
Jon Favreau back in the fold, this is a haphazard film thrown together
by talented people, with all the pluses and minuses that implies,"
Scoffs Turan. "Given the non-organic way 'Iron Man 2's' plot came into
the world -- hatched by the producers in a series of meetings before a
screenwriter was brought on -- it's surprising that the film has any
pluses at all." While Turan thinks Iron Man 2 is "at its best when it
surrounds him with practiced farceurs who are adept at keeping things
funny" -- namely Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and the "appropriately
icky" Sam Rockwell as "rival weapons tycoon and smirking slimeball"
Justin Hammer -- Turan sees too much subtext in the milieu of
suddenly-important throw-away characters, ending his review on a
cautionary note: "it would be too bad if Marvel became so intent on
creating an on-screen empire by uniting all its superhero films (the
apparent purpose of Fury's character) that it forgot about the people
outside the sacred circle.

Levity the Best Part The
New Yorker's Anthony
Lane concludes that Favreaux would have benefited from keeping Iron Man
2's light-hearted elements and abandoning the the seemingly extraneous
plot points and the need of hero flicks to go heavy on the fight
sequences:

All these folk are so plainly enjoying the ride that
to watch it slow and stall, under the weight of dead plot, is a cause
for regret. Theroux, Favreau, and the cast have a mind to attempt what
no other team has done: to take the built-in hyperbole of the genre and
treat it as food for laughs. Iron Man's aspirations are as puffed up as
those of Batman, Spider-Man, Watchmen, Fantastic Four, and the rest of
the gang, but the telling of his tale feels more leavened and less
savage than theirs, and it's a pity that Favreau didn't go the whole way
and toss out the creaky narrative junk. Why have Nick Fury (Samuel L.
Jackson), a growler with an eye patch, show up halfway through, like a
refugee from another comic? Why have Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle),
Stark's best friend, put on a rival metal suit and battle him, almost to
the death, for no discernible reason? The answer is that the audience
craves its fix of fighting, which means that "Iron Man 2" has to keep
the clashes coming.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Jared Keller is a journalist based in New York. He has written for Bloomberg Businessweek, Pacific Standard, and Al Jazeera America, and is a former associate editor for The Atlantic.